Excerpt from Beethoven's Letters, Vol. 1: A Critical Edition With Explanatory Notes This appears to be the special task of biography to present the man in relation to his times, and to show how far as a whole they are opposed to him, in how far they are favourable to him, and how, if he be an artist, poet, or writer, he reflects them outwardly. Thus wrote Goethe in his Wahrheit und Dichtung, and as regards Beethoven, his letters offer a unique biography, for studying the man in relation to his times, while such works as the Eroica and Choral symphonies certainly reflect them outwardly. We also see clearly from his letters how deeply he was affected by the times. He did not suddenly decide to write a work and dedicate it to Napoleon, for that was his original intention with respect to the Eroica nor did he suddenly think that Schiller's Ode to Joy would be a fine poem to set to music; but the one work was the outcome of strong sympathy with the man whom he thought was about to establish a republican millennium, the other of ardent desire for peace and goodwill to reign upon earth. Reichardt tells us of the ideals after which men were aiming at the end of the eighteenth century. The victories of the republican armies specially impressed Beethoven soon after his arrival in Vienna, for his native country suffered thereby, while the Ode to Joy of Schiller, though the setting was a late one, occupied his thoughts from a very early period. Of the horrors of war he had personal experience. In 1801 we find him taking part in a concert for the benefit of the wounded Austrian soldiers at the battle of Hainau; in 1805, Vienna was occupied by French troops, and again in 1809 the city of Vienna was bombarded and then occupied by Napoleon. The events of 1805 were unfavourable to the success of his opera Fidelio, while those of 1809 greatly worried him What a disturbing, wild life all around me, nothing but drums, cannons, men, misery of all sorts. So he writes in a graphic letter to his publishers, Breitkopf and Haertel (july 26. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.